Joseph Coyne

Joseph Coyne (27 March 1867 – 17 February 1941), sometimes billed as Joe Coyne, was an American-born vaudevillian and musical comedy actor whose career spanned nearly 50 years from 1883-1931. A popular performer in the U.S., he achieved major stardom in the role of Prince Danilo in George Edwardes' London adaptation of The Merry Widow, which led to other leading roles in Edwardian musical comedy in London. By no means a strong singer, Coyne is credited with originating the speak-style of singing popularized by Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady.

The son of Irish immigrants James P. Coyne of Queens County, and Margaret Downey of West Meath County, Coyne was born in New York City, the middle of three children. His father worked as a seaman and, later, a waiter, while his mother kept house.

Having shown talent for drawing "and the like," Coyne's parents apprenticed him to a sculptor, but Coyne, having "of his own accord discovered himself as a dancer," instead made his stage debut in New York at 16 as a performer in one of the The Kiralfy Brothers spectacular productions (Excelsior 1983-1985). Coyne spent the next 10 years in Vaudeville honing his comedic skills as half of a duo known as 'Evans and Coyne'.

He first appeared in legitimate theatre in 1895, joining the Rose Lyall Dramatic Company. The ten years that followed were referred to by Coyne as a period of "arduous stock work in drama," playing in several variety farce-comedies beginning with The District Attorney (1985), and The Good Mr. Best (1897). His first starring role was in Charles Hale Hoyt's A Stranger in New York at the Garrick Theatre in NY 1897. A year later Hale wrote a leading role especially for Coyne in 1899's short-lived The Dog in the Manger at the Washington National Theater. This was followed by roles in The Girl in the Barracks (1899), Star and Garter (1900), The Night of the Fourth (1901).

It was in 1901 that Coyne made his first appearance on the London stage, playing opposite Edna May in Charles Frohman's The Girl from Up There. Returning to America he got his Broadway break playing the role of Archie in The Toreador (1902). Following that were a string of roles in which he played the "silly-ass" drunken English gentleman to great effect: The Rogers Brothers in London (1903–04), In Newport (1904–05), Abigail (1905), The Rollicking Girl (1905–06), The Social Whirl (1906), and My Lady's Maid (1906). According to the Biographical Dictionary of Dance (1982), Coyne became known for his drunk act and physical comedy: falling down staircases, over tables, and on top of comic leads. It was a typecasting that obscured his other abilities, but one that brought wide recognition.

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